Quinn, Troubadour

I'm back to work now.  Week 2.  Week 1 was a half week.  Everybody seems to be adjusting well.  I'm going in earlier and getting home earlier, which seems to be working well for everybody so far.  Quinn was sad as I left this morning - he and I played a lot together while I was off and that is a hard part of the adjustment.  For me too.  I promised to play with him when I got home and off I went.

Bec, Quinn and Rilla went to the children's museum today, one of Quinn's favourite places.  They had a blast and Quinn ran everywhere.  As they sat down for lunch Quinn sang The Marilla Song that I sing to her all the time.  He did a pretty true rendition of it and Bec was impressed.  "Daddy would love to hear that I'm sure" said mommy.  "Can I phone him at work and sing it?" asked Quinn.  And so he did.  It was a welcome break, and it was a pretty true rendition.  Quinn can now add it to his repertoire of "Me and my pickup truck, we don't pick up much", "American Pie", Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Old McDonald had a farm, pickle edition (with a crunch crunch here...).

Good clean fun, mostly

Quinn and I were playing space lego, his new favourite thing.  He was bouncing around like he always does when he has to pee.  I figured he's big enough that he should be able to go to the bathroom when he needs to.  He always seems so put out when you ask him if he needs to pee.  While he has been capable of going to the bathroom on his own for quite awhile now, it's only recently that he has chosen to do so again (with a little prodding).  Finally he stated, unprompted, that he really needed to pee.  Off he went.  It was quiet for a time.  Then I hear "I think I need new underwear".  Then, "I think I need new shorts too".  Followed by "I think some went on the floor".  And at last by "actually I think it's a lot on the floor".  Off Quinn went to get clean clothes.  Off I went to get clean floors.  It was a sizeable puddle.  It's very unusual for Quinn to have an accident - in fact it's the first one since he toilet trained as far as I know.  I gently suggested to Quinn that perhaps the next time he doesn't need to wait until it's an emergency before going to the bathroom.  He agreed.  Hopefully it's a life lesson learned.  A now we have a clean spot on our bathroom floor.

Then it was bathtime.  Rilla and Quinn were going to have a bath together.  Bec decided to weigh herself with Rilla to get a weight for her.  Surely it can't hurt to take an extra minute Bec thought.  Rilla peed.  Rilla peed a lot.  Mommy needed a new shirt.  Mommy needed new pajama bottoms.  Some went on the floor.  Actually a lot went on the floor.  How can such a small girl hold so much pee?  Some went on the sink, the scales and various other places.  Mommy, accustomed to bodily fluids, continued with the bath.  Off I went to get clean floors.  Again.  Now we have two clean spots on the bathroom floor.

Quinn and Rilla had a blast in the bath.  Rilla really seems to like it.  Quinn squirted her in the belly.  Mommy and Rilla squirted Quinn back.  The first couple of baths Rilla squawked briefly upon getting out, but now she doesn't even do that.  Mommy got some dry clothes, and I admired the floors.

The name game

When we chose Quinn's name, Bec was adamant that we choose a name that was unmodifiable.  And largely we succeeded.  He still gets "Little Bear", but any Quinn derivative or modifier elicits an "I'm just Quinn" from Quinn himself.

Marilla however is so far known as:
- Rilla
- Rill
- Rillabean
- Rilla-bo-billa-bo-banna-banna-bo-billa (Quinn's favourite)
- Miss Marilla
- Rillapooh
- Rilla Jane
- MJ

All in all, her name seems very natural to us, a perfect fit in all its various forms.

Hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work I go...

Sadly, my month off is up.  It's been great and I don't want it to end.  I have spent a whole lot of time with Quinn and that has been fantastic.  Sure, there were lots of times when I thought my head would explode with one more 'why', but he is a great little boy (not so little any more!) and I've had the opportunity to bond with him this last month more than any other time during his four-and-a-half years.  We've gone to three museums (five if you count the three museums at Civilization separately), gone to the park a lot, gone for a bike-ride/water taxi adventure, and we even had fun grocery shopping today.  We've played soccer, water play, lego, moon buggy, helicopter rescue, pillow fight, jetpack.  He has become quite attached to his green OLPC computer, and operates it quite proficiently ("I'm recalibrating the mouse" he says triumphantly as he resets the finger pad driver with a keystroke combination...substitute mouse ordered...).  We watched Daily Planet, helicopter rescue videos and some Olympics.  He calls me "Dave". I fall asleep with him every night and wake up / get up with him every morning.

Marilla is doing well.  One month old.  Wow the time flies.  Sleep is still sketchy - last night was bad for Bec.  She started smiling about a week ago, at least for daddy and Quinn.  Much to mommy's chagrin she doesn't get as much smiling, which has been hard for her given how much she does for her.  It's the novelty factor I'm sure - I remember going through that with Quinn too.  With respect to breastfeeding, Marilla is in the transition period from a one-boober to a two-boober.  Her stomach hasn't quite grown to two-boob stature yet and as a result the entire contents quite often erupt.  Poor little girl - she looks up so plaintively amid all the scurrying around it causes.  She continues to be largely readable and consolable.  She has had a couple of sustained crying episodes (that I know of) but even those weren't off the scale like I remember some of Quinn's.  The best part for me is that she seems to now recognize "The Marilla Song" that I sing her every day, and she smiles when she hears it.  It lights up my heart.

And now I head back to work.  It's going to be hard.  Hardest on Bec, especially with respect to sleep.  She has been making up an hour or two of sleep in the morning, which won't be possible with Quinn up.  Quinn has been fantastic with Rilla, but I'm worried that she will become more competition now.  My days will become hectic again, once again squeezed for time on all fronts and feeling inadequate in all roles in my life.  But as I keep stressing to Quinn, we are family and we stick together and help one another.  We'll get through it.

Late breaking news: it's 4:30am and Rilla (and mommy) slept 10 til 4!  Maybe this is a good omen...amen to that!